For the last 3 years, I have co-organized an AI & Education Conference that brings together about 1000 educators to talk about the latest in K-12 education with AI. This year's focus is on educator/student/community led innovation with AI: centering community voice. web.cvent.com/event/396882...

I've enjoyed bringing co-design and partnership methods to the Playful Learning Landscapes project. Here's a new article, on how it's inspiring the field of developmental psychology: bpspsychub.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... HT to Annelise Pesch for lead authoring this piece!

Really proud of how the undergrads in my research lab get deeply involved in UX, software development and research in ed-tech. Check out a profile of their involvement here: urop.uci.edu/project/june...

So proud of my daplab team. Looking forward to seeing folks at AERA 2026. www.linkedin.com/posts/daplab...

Trump wants UCLA to pay $1.2 billion to settle allegations it violated civil rights law. I took a look at the more than 7,300-word proposed UCLA settlement. Here's the detailed breakdown of Trump's plan to remake one of the nation's top public campuses: www.latimes.com/california/s...

The federal government’s $1B demand is designed for one purpose and one purpose only: to devastate @UCLA and its critical mission. Join me and #StandUpForUC to defend @uofcalifornia and support its life-saving work. www.universityofcalifornia.edu/get-involved...

Big congrats to Dr. John Lopez on a successful dissertation defense; a great exploration of students’ epistemological beliefs in data science. He’ll be moving to a postdoc position at UC Berkeley in data science education! The best part of my job is seeing student growth and success ❤️

Excited to share our new paper that will come out in CSCW 2025. "How did We Miss It?" Examining the Infrastructural Work of Practitioners Supporting Housing Insecure and Foster Youth Students. (ahnjune.com/.../upl.../2...) Some highlights that I'm particularly proud of: 1/7

Here's an annual celebration of the graduating students and alumni from my research lab. I'm always amazed at their growth and endeavors. One of the best parts of my job. www.daplab.education.uci.edu/post/celebra...

Excited to share this writeup of my work with the Anaheim where we've been designing AI systems to accelerate their systems change efforts to prioritize and value students' holistic array of skills. TY to Carnegie Corporation for awarding our partnership. www.carnegie.org/our-work/art...

“It would be a symbolic surrender of the university’s autonomy and commitment to free inquiry that... would send a chilling message: that public universities in Virginia serve political agendas, not the commonwealth.” www.nytimes.com/2025/06/27/u...

Everyone should really take an hour and watch Ocean with David Attenborough. Heartbreaking and vital. The pace at which we are killing the ocean is mind boggling. www.rottentomatoes.com/m/ocean_with...

So cool to see this. I also “made my own major” as an Independent Concentration, while an undergrad at Brown. Seeing new students develop their passions and agency warms my heart. www.brown.edu/news/2025-05...

"For me, the answer now lies in refusal, the withdrawal of participation from systems that require dishonesty as the price of belonging." Today I am resigning from the National Science Board and the Library of Congress Scholars Council. I wrote about my decision in TIME. time.com/7285045/resi...

So proud of this year’s cohort of students in my research lab (the Design and Partnership Lab). We have nearly 15 undergrads, masters and PhD students graduating this year. We gave out daplab stoles early, so they can take their graduation pictures and wear them for commencement.

Really honored to have been invited to this New America convening. A great group of minds: www.newamerica.org/education-po...

If you need help explaining to people what the Department of Education does and why it matters, this, from Ben Miller (hosted by @mattyglesias.bsky.social) is as good as it gets open.substack.com/pub/matthewy...

Update to @fordschool.bsky.social tool that lets you figure out how much federal funding public schools in your congressional district may lose Now includes that info by state legislative district as well. poverty.umich.edu/federal-educ...

Really proud of my lab and students and our partnership with Anaheim Union High School District. youtu.be/tdT8hHDl9BQ?...

Congrats everyone on another successful AI K12 Summit! youtu.be/Kp7aWX8leLI?...

In this op-ed, we - the presidents of SREE and AEFP - joined forces to argue for the importance of evidence on "what works" and how cutting such funding is not "efficient" - it is wasteful. www.brookings.edu/articles/cut...

When Nazi flags are more acceptable than Pride flags, your goals are hate and fear. www.sltrib.com/news/politic...

I'm angry and exhausted like many of my colleagues. But just sharing some positivity: I love the grad students and undergrads in my research lab, they really are amazing, check them out! I'm looking forward to my lab meeting today. www.daplab.education.uci.edu/dappers

Some higher ed organizations who are loudly circling the wagons against federal funding cuts were oddly silent or circumspect about the earlier attacks on CRT and DEI. I wish there was a better understanding that these attacks are coming because we failed to repel those.

100% to this. It’s been clear to anyone watching closely that there is a multi-pronged attack on U.S. universities & the playbooks we are using to address this attack are not up to the challenge of the moment. (That said, some have been better than others, and at least UW let my team fight.)

I suspect the calculation for admins was, "If we oppose the DEI attack, they'll come for our grant funding." I suspect the calculation now is, "If we oppose the grant cuts too loudly, they'll come for student finaid." Well, they'll do that anyway. Word to the wise.

Check out my amazing colleague, collaborator and leader of the Playful Learning Landscapes work in Orange County: news.uci.edu/2025/02/07/u...

Some good reading on what may be allowable in terms of indirect cost rate changes. TLDR: it's likely unlawful for NIH to reduce everything down 15%. But there is some interesting history in this post as well. I have not vetted this, but just sharing: goodscience.substack.com/p/indirect-c...

Good story about indirect costs from Bruce Lee at Forbes. www.forbes.com/sites/brucel...

It’s been a wild 2024. But I’m forever thankful for the people who made the year together. Love y’all. Happy New Year and here’s to 2025!

Re-reading our work with Tammy Clegg and Jason Yip, on our community science everywhere work. Really loving these ideas still. Changing lanes: Relational dispositions that fuel community science learning. journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.3...

End of quarter lab festivities for the daplab. We had a great “secret Santa” gift exchange and a field trip to do some photo shenanigans. Happy holidays from the daplab to you!

Today was a little, humble milestone. I broke my shoulder and had surgery to put it back together in early August. It’s been a slow recovery, and I can lift my arm only just about shoulder height. Andres Bustamante and @ericdearing.bsky.social called me to go out for a surf this AM.

Huge congratulations to Dr. Socorro Cambero who successfully defended her dissertation, designing affinity spaces for teacher candidates to develop social justice identities and practices. I’m a proud advisor.

Please vote today friends. And take care of yourselves and others around you. 🙏❤️

As OpenAI and Meta introduce LLM-driven searchbots, I'd like to once again remind people that neither LLMs nor chatbots are good technology for information access. A thread, with links: >>

For our pre-Halloween lab meeting, the students surprised me and came in dressed as different versions of “June”. Featured prominently were fanny packs/belt bags, collared shirts under sweaters (preppy style) and Nike sneakers. Thanks for the laughs daplab!

Happy to share a new article! Embedding Racialized Selves into the Creation of Research-Practice Partnerships. www.tandfonline.com/eprint/VPS3Q...

Celebrating all the amazing students in the Design and Partnership Lab. With our graduating seniors in the front. Congrats on a great year! 👊 🙌👏 daplab class of ‘24

Graduating undergrad in our lab told me today: “I feel like my time in the lab was special. I got to do the “full stack” of designing, building tech, collecting data, analyzing data, presenting my research publicly etc. I really loved it.” 😭 Reminder of the best parts of my job.

Honored to see my #RPP partner Santa Ana Unified here at the Spencer Foundation AI convening. Supt. @JerryAlmendarez showing how districts will lead the way in how AI is used for good in our schools.